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There is a mention of the dwarfing Paradise & Doucin on the 15th Century for example. Bauhin 1598, describes his grafting onto a extreme dwarfing rootstock , a form of Paradise. (there were many Paradise typesit would seem so it should not be assumed they are just a single rootstock)
These are both well into the Mini Ice ages and definatly "the past" by some 5-600 years, so your hgypothisis does not hold IMHO.
However, I would suggest that people in earlier times did depend on sucessful growth of fruit & other crops and their care was more intensive than anything that we tend to offer ours, it was a matter of life and death for most agrarian people. We have replaced manual care with machinery & chemicals to do the jobs that would have taken many man hours. We then plonk a tree in the ground & think it will be fine as it is natural for it just to grow, a reading of old texts will often show intense care of trees, dwarfing, for example being dug up root pruned as well as common pruning, hands on clearing of pests is often performed. If we take Victorian gardens the work load was massive to produce fruit particularly out of season fruit (and veg) the cost in modern terms can be several thousands for a pineapple for example. Head Gardeners were sought after and their knowledge incredible. For example a failing tree might have a bridge graft made to ensure sap reached around the bark breech.
Seedling piles were made and used as rootstock, in many cases, but were also the source of many of our cultivars today.
I'm still an avocate of own root trees as potentially the longest survival prospects, if neglected, but history gives us a very clear insight that in cared for situation grafted trees on specific rootstock have been common for 100s of years in europe. But they also point to intense care in all the cases I've read thus far.
I still feel in your area I'd be very tempted to go along the seedling root as the method of survival of the fittest seems appropriate where the common rootstocks struggle.
These are both well into the Mini Ice ages and definatly "the past" by some 5-600 years, so your hgypothisis does not hold IMHO.
However, I would suggest that people in earlier times did depend on sucessful growth of fruit & other crops and their care was more intensive than anything that we tend to offer ours, it was a matter of life and death for most agrarian people. We have replaced manual care with machinery & chemicals to do the jobs that would have taken many man hours. We then plonk a tree in the ground & think it will be fine as it is natural for it just to grow, a reading of old texts will often show intense care of trees, dwarfing, for example being dug up root pruned as well as common pruning, hands on clearing of pests is often performed. If we take Victorian gardens the work load was massive to produce fruit particularly out of season fruit (and veg) the cost in modern terms can be several thousands for a pineapple for example. Head Gardeners were sought after and their knowledge incredible. For example a failing tree might have a bridge graft made to ensure sap reached around the bark breech.
Seedling piles were made and used as rootstock, in many cases, but were also the source of many of our cultivars today.
I'm still an avocate of own root trees as potentially the longest survival prospects, if neglected, but history gives us a very clear insight that in cared for situation grafted trees on specific rootstock have been common for 100s of years in europe. But they also point to intense care in all the cases I've read thus far.
I still feel in your area I'd be very tempted to go along the seedling root as the method of survival of the fittest seems appropriate where the common rootstocks struggle.
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